1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of electrical connectors, and more particularly to an IC socket having contacts for avoiding short circuit between two adjacent contacts in a row.
2. Description of the Related Art
An IC socket (not shown), as known in the prior art, generally includes an insulative housing with a plurality of passageways (not shown) extending therethrough, and a plurality of contacts disposed in the respective passageways and generally arranged in a matrix defined by row and column direction perpendicular to each other. One conventional IC contact 7′ for use in the IC socket is shown, in FIGS. 3 and 4, to include a base section 74′ for being retained in a passageway of the IC socket, a terminal section 75′ provided at a lower side of the base section 74′ and adapted for a solder material (not shown) to be fused thereon for electrically connecting a circuit board (not shown), a contact section 731′ provided at an upper side of the base section 74′ and adapted for electrically contacting an IC package, and a spring arm 73′ disposed between the base section 74′ and the contact section 731′ and extending from a lateral side of the base section 74′. The spring arm 73′ further includes a first spring portion 731′ extending in an offset manner with respect to the base section 74′, and a second spring portion 733′ successively extending from the first spring portion 731′ and disposed parallel to the row direction.
A problem, however, with the IC socket is that there is apt to form a short circuit between the second spring portion 733′ of one contact 7′ and a first spring portion 731′ of an adjacent contact 7′ in a same row. This is so because the second spring portion 733′ is arranged parallel to the row direction, and a limited distance, designated as “L′”, is formed. The short circuit formation of adjacent terminals will result in electrical connection failure to the IC package or the circuit board. Therefore, there is a need to provide a new IC socket to resolve the above-mentioned shortcomings.